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business Saturday 7 May 2022

Do you need a grad degree to compete right now? Probably not

By ANNA HELHOSKI of sylvania," Hershbein says.
NerdWallet Taylor says the nature of
More U.S. workers than ever remote learning during the
hold a graduate degree. pandemic erased some
Years of intensifying job re- of the bias around online
quirements and headlines programs, but employer
declaring a master's "the preference is still skewed
new bachelor's degree" toward degrees from elite
nudged a record num- colleges.
ber of students into grad "I think we have to be hon-
school. est with ourselves: There's
And yet more well-paying always an elitism that plays
jobs no longer require a itself into the hiring process,"
college degree at all. In says Taylor.
this tight labor market, do For graduate students, at-
college grads need a mas- tending a highly selective
ter's degree to compete? university might help them
Maybe not. make professional con-
"We have all reduced our nections to more easily get
almost obsession with the a job. And grad programs
master's degree," says are "cash cows" for universi-
Johnny C. Taylor Jr., CEO ties, says Hershbein. Univer-
and president of the Soci- sities count on the prestige
ety for Human Resource of their undergraduate de-
Management. grees to attract graduate
Anecdotal and statistical students into expensive
evidence shows employers Graduates of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley attend their commencement ceremony at programs.
were already pulling back the schools parking lot on Friday, May 7, 2021, in Edinburg, Texas. Students then rack up ex-
degree requirements even Associated Press orbitant debt for degrees
before the pandemic: Data that might not pay off.
from a job market analysis "Nobody can quite explain These are woefully difficult debt students can take An estimated 40% of mas-
done by the Burning Glass what we're going through to find. For example, the on annually, federal Grad ter's degree programs do
Institute show a reduction now; I think everyone thinks College Scorecard, a data PLUS and private graduate not pay off at all, accord-
in middle-skills and high- it's temporary," says Gordon tool from the U.S. Depart- loans allow students to bor- ing to February 2022 data
skills requirements — jobs Lafer, a professor in the La- ment of Education , which row up to the cost of atten- from the Foundation for Re-
that require more educa- bor Education & Research provides information on dance, so it's easier to rack search on Equal Opportu-
tion than a high school di- Center at the University of outcomes like graduation up debt. nity, a nonprofit think tank.
ploma — from 2017 to 2019. Oregon. rates and post-graduate Your earnings after at- The uncertainty means pro-
If fewer employers are re- Holding an advanced de- salaries, doesn't include taining a grad degree will spective students will need
quiring grad degrees to gree could provide a safe- graduate-level data by largely depend on your to do some legwork to
gain entrance to good guard for the future. If the major. field and employer. Out- prevent graduate school
jobs, prospective students economic tide turns , Taylor The lack of transparency comes in some fields are from harming their financ-
should assess whether ad- says, the degree becomes makes it harder for pro- easier to predict than in es more than it helps their
vanced degrees are worth a differentiator. spective students to make others, says Hershbein. employment prospects.
taking on debt. Advanced degrees tend to an informed decision. And "Teachers' master's degrees That means graduate ap-
SOME FIELDS STILL REQUIRE correlate with lower unem- that could lead some to are carefully calibrated; plicants should:
ADVANCED DEGREES ployment rates compared end up with debt they're based on union contracts — Start with the graduate
Advanced degrees are still with bachelor's or associ- unable to repay. they know what the pay program costs on a school's
the key to entering certain ate degrees. But generally, "Not everyone realizes is going to be," says Her- website.
professions: Medicine, law any degree acts as a buf- there's a risk that it's a bad shbein. But outcomes for — Search earnings and
and teaching come to fer against unemployment. financial investment," says master's in areas like public entry-level degree require-
mind. In other fields, as long During the Great Reces- Hershbein. policy or fine arts are more ments for occupations us-
as you can convey you sion, those with bachelor's Graduate loan debt has of an unknown, he adds. ing the Bureau of Labor
have the skills an employer degrees and higher were reached an all-time high, MASTER'S PROGRAMS ARE Statistics Occupational
is looking for, you can get more likely to keep their according to data from the NOT ALL EQUAL Outlook Handbook.
a job without an advanced jobs, according to 2014 re- federal government and Where you get your de- — Scour other tools that
degree, says Brad Hersh- search by the Georgetown think tanks like the Center gree also matters. "If you're list program types and out-
bein, senior economist and University Center on Edu- for American Progress and getting an online master's comes by degree level
deputy director of research cation and the Workforce Brookings. degree from the Univer- including the Wall Street
for the W.E. Upjohn Institute . The same goes for job Unlike undergraduate sity of Phoenix it will pay off Journal and the George-
for Employment Research retention during the early loans, which have stricter less than a master's degree town Center on Education
in Kalamazoo, Michigan. days of the pandemic, ac- limits on the amount of from the University of Penn- and the Workforce.q
ADVANCED DEGREES cording to June 2020 data
COULD HEDGE AGAINST A from The Federal Reserve LIKE US ON
RECESSION Bank of San Francisco.
Employers are likely reduc- GRADUATE PROGRAMS
ing education require- DON'T ALWAYS PAY OFF
ments to fill slots, which can What consumers need is
be difficult in a tight labor data that show program-
market like this one, experts specific outcomes like
say. But that doesn't mean graduates' employment
it will last. rates and average salaries. Facebook.com/arubatoday/